


you, me, her, we

by ThePackWantstheD



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Polyamory Negotiations, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 04:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13967448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePackWantstheD/pseuds/ThePackWantstheD
Summary: Then Maka said, "Papa, are you okay?"Before he could respond, Black Star exclaimed, shouting as he usually did, "Papa? What?""Um....I thought Maka's father was....the current death scythe...""He is," Soul informed. "This is her other dad."





	you, me, her, we

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elsaa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elsaa/gifts).



**I.**  
"This is where Stein is right? Let's hurry and settle this, and get this remedial class over with," Soul said. The four of them, himself and Maka along with Black Star and Tsubaki, were gathered around the entrance to the stand laboratory. Curious, he noted, "Even the laboratory is patchwork?"

The second the words left his mouth, something occurred to him.

He heard Maka make a quiet humming sound behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder, meeting her eyes. He could see that she was wondering the same thing he was.

"I thought it was just a coincidence that it was the same name," Maka said when he raised an eyebrow, a silent request for information.

Soul had assumed the same thing. Now he felt a little stupid for thinking so. It wasn't like Stein was a particularly normal or common name. It had just seemed strange that they wouldn't know if-

Soul's thoughts were caught off by a small squeaking sound. He glanced down to find a small patchwork mouse sniffing around his shoe. The suspicion pooling in his gut grew larger.

Before he could think about any further, he heard the sharp squeaking sound of something rolling towards them.

"Something's coming this way," he noted aloud.

He watched as the back of a familiar white coat appeared, sitting in a rolling chair. One of the wheels caught on the lip of the door. There was a small squeak as the man went tumbling. The man barely hesitated before getting to his feet, ignoring the four dumbstruck teenagers in favor of patting the back of his lab coat off. Soul watched the behavior, privately thinking that if the man was this strange that he was glad he'd only encountered him once before.

"Damn," the man said as he settled back down in the chair. He reached for the dial sticking out of his head, beginning to crank it as he said, "It's still out of adjustment." After a moment, he said, "Maybe about there?"

As the man went to stand up, Maka began, "Um...Pa-"

"One second, Maka," the man dismissed. He grabbed the back of chair, beginning to drag it back inside as he said. "Let me try that again."

There was a quiet dumbstruck moment before Soul said, "Oi, Maka, stop him."

"But you know how he is..."

Tsubaki looked over at them. "You two know him?"

"I barely know him," Soul said. "But he's Maka's other-"

He was cut off by the sound of a rolling chair rushing towards them again. They all watched as the chair came into view again, the man sitting on it like he had been before. They all watched as the chair caught on the lip and tumbled exactly the same way it had before.

There was a quiet moment where the group of teenagers and the man just stared at each other.

Then Maka said, "Papa, are you okay?"

Before he could respond, Black Star exclaimed, shouting as he usually did, "Papa? What?"

"Um....I thought Maka's father was....the current death scythe..."

"He is," Soul informed. "This is her other dad."

 

 

 

 **II.**   
It started like this -

Masaki took a long sip of her tea, waiting for Spirit to finish absorbing the information she'd dumped on him. There hadn't been very much of it - just that she was pregnant and that she was keeping the baby and that there being a kid now meant that Spirit had to drop the other women if he wanted to stay with her - but the information had been a little loaded. Spirit was good in a battle, but outside of it he lacked a little.

He wasn't the sharpest tool in the box, but he was charming and, despite all of his womanizing and two-timing, he wasn't a bad guy. He was, honestly, one of the best people she knew. She hadn't been intending to have a child this early in her life, but since it was happening anyway she found herself a little glad it was Spirit she was having the baby with. She couldn't imagine very many people that would have made a better dad than he would.

"Spirit," she said, when she put her cup back down. She was willing to give him time to think, but she wasn't going to sit here for ages.

At the sound of his name, he shook himself out of his daze, letting out a quiet, "We're having a baby."

Masaki nodded a little. "We are."

He seemed to debate something for a moment before he said, "No more women, sure. But what about Stein?"

Masaki couldn't really say that she was surprised he'd brought up the other Meister. As many women as Spirit fooled around with, Stein was the only man. More so to the point, Masaki was firmly of the belief that Stein was the only one that Spirit was truly in love with. She didn't know all of the details surrounding the two of them, but she knew that despite how much love they had for each other the two of them drifting in and out of each other's orbits. It was as if staying close together for too long psychically hurt them both.

Masaki had already considered the entire situation with Stein when she'd decided she wasn't going to be two-timed on by the father of her child. The women were one thing, but Stein was something completely different. Stein had more of a claim on Spirit then Masaki ever would, even with a child binding the two of them together.

"Stein's different," Masaki said. She saw something in Spirit's shoulders relax. She wondered, vaguely, what he would have done if she told him Stein was included. Would he have agreed or would he have fought with her over it or would he have left her all together? There was a quiet moment before Masaki asked, "But can he handle this?"

"I don't know," Spirit said. He gave her a small smile, but there was something sad in his expression. "I'll figure it out though. I'm going to be there for you and the baby."

Masaki watched him for a long moment.

Stein and Spirit were something all their own, though, and there wasn't anything she could do to soothe the effect her pregnancy would have on their relationship.

But, well... The fact of the matter was that Masaki loved Spirit. She wouldn't have done half the things she'd done with him, wouldn't have even considered keeping the baby, if she didn't. She didn't enjoy seeing him so down.

"I have a doctor's appointment next week," she said. "Would you like to come with me? You'll be able to see the baby."

Spirit's face lit up, letting her know it had been the right thing to say to cheer him up, "Really?"

 

 

  
**III.**  
"I know you're an idiot, but are you really so stupid that you don't know how to use a condom?"

Spirit and Stein were sitting in Spirit's apartment, settled on opposite side of the table. There were two cups of cold tea between them, forgotten now that the conversation had moved onto Spirit's reason for insisting that Stein drag himself out of his lab and come to Death City. Stein's overnight bag rested at their feet, but Spirit couldn't imagine an end to their conversation which resulted in Stein staying the night. It didn't matter how much Spirit wanted him to stay, it'd been far too long since they'd seen each other, because Spirit had really messed up and there was no way Stein was going to feel like sleeping together afterwards. It was more likely that Stein wouldn't even want to look at Spirit.

It took effort for Spirit not to flinch at Stein's words. It wasn't the words that hurt, though they /did/ sting, so much as it was the their delivery. Stein's words were cold and detached. He was shutting himself off from Spirit in a way that he hadn't in years. And Spirit had to watch it happen with the knowledge that it was his fault.

Their relationship worked because each of them was allowed to have the freedom each of them needed, but that freedom was only possible as long as they trusted that there wasn't anyone else that could take their places in each other's lives. Spirit gave Stein his space, because he knew Stein needed that space to grapple with the opinions he had of himself. Stein didn't mind Spirit's sleeping around, because he knew none of the people Spirit slept with mattered the way he did. Their arrangement worked because it operated on the principal that Stein would always be Spirit's most important person. But Spirit had betrayed that by getting Masaki pregnant, by turning her into his family and thereby setting her next to Stein as an important person.

"I used a condom," Spirit said. "I wasn't planning this. It was an accident."

"An accident is when I drop something in the lab," Stein said. "It's a little mild of a word for this big of a fuck up."

"Maybe," Spirit agreed. "But it's true regardless of what we call it. Masaki-"

"Do _not_  say her name to me," Stein said, shoulders tensing almost unnoticeably.

Everything about the way he was carrying himself spoke of ice cold fury and danger. Spirit knew better than to poke Stein when he was like that, but he needed Stein to understand that this hadn't happened on purpose. There

"She forgot a few doses of her birth control because we got called out on a sudden mission and clearly the condoms didn't work," Spirit explained. His fingers itched to reach out for Stein, but he knew that touching him now was likely to end up with him missing a hand.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to understand."

He _needed_  Stein to understand that no matter how it felt, this hadn't been intentional and Spirit had no intention of replacing Stein with Masaki. They were too entirely different people and Masaki couldn't offer him the things that Stein did. A baby meant that things would have to change between them, but it didn't mean that Spirit had been dissatisfied with the way that things had been before or that he wanted things to change so much that he didn't want Stein to still be there.

 

 

  
**IIII.**   
Stein made his way down the hallway, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed into the pocket of his lab coat. He could feel people watching him, gazes curious, but he ignored them as he pushed on. Things like that didn't bother him very much, but he'd be able to use it as an excuse not to go through with this if he thought about it too much.

He took a deep breath as he approached his destination.

Then he said, "Which one is she?"

Spirit had been focused on the window in front of him, a large thing that spanned most of the wall in front of them and let parents peer into the nursery, so he startled when Stein spoke.

"Stein," Spirit said when he turned to see him. Surprise was written all over his features, but Stein was relieved to see that there was still affection in his eyes. He was relieved to see that Spirit still looked at him as though he wanted him.The fact that Stein had been keeping track of Masaki's pregnancy, the fact that he'd shown up at the hospital now, said all that needed to be said about Stein's feelings for Spirit. Spirit seemed to have a million things he wanted to ask, but after a moment he settled on, "Where have you been?"

"Doing some work for Lord Death," Stein said, shrugging a bit. He knew that disappearing for months after Spirit told him about Masaki's pregnancy probably hadn't been the best reaction, but he'd been livid and the only missions Lord Death had the time were long term ones.

Spirit's eyebrows furrowed. "Without a partner?"

"No," Stein said. He hadn't had a weapon partner since Spirit had been reassigned to Masaki, focusing instead on his research. "I was with Marie."

"Oh."

Silence lapsed between them again.

After a moment Stein cleared his throat. He repeated his earlier question, "Which one is your daughter?"

Spirit stared at him for a moment before turning back to the window. A small, gentle smile settled over his lips as soon as his gaze was focused in that direction again. He reached up, resting one hand against the window. "She's the one over there. In the red blanket."

Stein glanced between the cradles until he found the one Spirit was referring to.

"Ah," Stein said, when he spotted her. "She's cute."

"Isn't she?" Spirit gushed, though he kept his voice quiet.

Stein didn't think the baby was that cute - babies were babies and Stein had never really understood why anyone gushed over them - but it had felt like the right thing to say. Following that line of conversation felt absurd, however, so instead he asked, "What did you name her?"

Spirit's voice went soft, filled with fond fatherly affection, "We named her Maka."

 

 

  
**IIIII.**   
This is what happens -  
Maka grew up living primarily with her Mama and Papa, but once or twice a month depending on how busy things were her Papa and her would spend the weekend with her other Papa.

Maka couldn't remember a time when Papa Stein wasn't there.

What she does remember is being a toddler and tugging on his lab coat because she wanted his attention. He had smiled down at her, indulgent, and then swept her up into his lap. She sat there and weaved a fake story since she couldn't actually read the lab reports he was writing. Papa Stein had been working when she interrupted, but he hummed and asked her questions about her story as she told it. She remembers being a child and how when Papa Spirit was fretting over her, Papa Stein had simply pushed him out of the house and slammed down the door in his face. Afterwards, Papa Stein had climbed into bed with her and read her whatever book she asked for while she drifted sleepily. When Papa Spirit came back with lunch for all of them, porridge for Maka and sandwiches for the two of them, Papa Stein had only let him after he'd promised not to cause problems. She remembers when they first tested her for a weapon ability and how she had been so happy to find out that she had the abilities of a meister. She had always loved Papa Spirit, but Papa Stein and Mama were the coolest people she knew and she had always wanted to be like them.

Maka grows up thinking that Papa Spirit's womanizing is disgusting, but knowing that Papa Stein was something completely different. When her parents divorce because Papa Spirit had crossed a line he never should have crossed,it was Papa Stein that she went to. She spent the night in his laboratory with him, reveling in the fact that this was normal even if everything else in her life was falling apart.

Maka grows up with Mama and two Papas.

At no point in her life, childhood or adulthood, does she consider that even remotely strange.

**Author's Note:**

> So [Elsaa](http://archiveofourown.org/users/elsaa/pseuds/elsaa) and I are watching Soul Eater - her for the first time and me for the second or third - and she made a comment about liking Spirit and Stein which made me later be like "imagine if Maka was raised by these disasters." And now we have this. 
> 
> I went with Masaki for Maka's mother bc I wanted their names to match a little bit.


End file.
